Becoming Vernians
by lste
Summary: An Icelandic mountain guide, a clueless Professor, an angsty teenager, and the mountain guide's klutz daughter... Well, not everything goes as planned.
1. Chapter 1

*This story is just for fun! :3

DISCLAIMER: I love Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I do not own it. Or do I own anything associated with it. Kay? Let's get on with it then.

-I hate the "word for word" thing people tend to do when writing this fanfiction. In the "begining" it might seem a bit like I will be doing that... but I mean how many greetings can you have when opening the door?

Also, I am raising the ages a bit for this story to make everything seem more realistic. I'll let you know the ages within the story eventually, however I will not tell you now! Let the story begin.

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

The blonde woman sat at the table wrapped in her knitted robe. A steaming cup of tea was clutched tightly in her grasp and she closed her light blue eyes slowly to ease her tension. Loud speakers blasted from the room upstairs invading her eardrums. She did not understand how her life had come to this... Her baby girl used to be sweet, innocent, and love spending time with mommy. Over the years the young child turned into something arrogant, blunt, and obnoxiously loud. Like her father.

Taking a sip of the liquid she almost spilled the entire drink all over herself as a knock sounded from the front door. A frown graced her pale lips as she stood slowly. Who would be here at _this _time of night?

She tried to look through the little eyehole in the door however she could not make out any of the faces. All she knew was that there were two figures standing there, "Halló, hver er það?"

"I'm sorry! I don't speak Icelandic!" a voice called from behind the door.

Opening it carefully she peered out at two men, one older and the other significantly younger. Although, you could see that they had some sort of resemblance to them.

"How can I help you?"

There was a silence that followed as the older man looked quite surprised to see the golden haired beauty standing before him. His jaw slacked and his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

"... Hello," he managed to choke out.

"I'm Hannah," the woman introduced as she held out her hand respectably.

The man grabbed her hand gently, "Oh hi, um, I'm Trev- Professor Anderson. I'm traveling from America... This is my nephew Sean-"

"- hey," the younger male interrupted as he waved with a hazy smile on his lips.

"I'm looking for Sigurbjorn Ásgeirsson..."

Hannah looked down sadly, "I am sorry. He is dead."

"Dead?" Sean questioned shocked as he shared a look with his uncle. They traveled _all_ this way for the man to be dead? Really?

"Three winters ago..." Hannah bit her lip. She had loved her father to bits. It was a difficult subject to bring up and she hardly ever talked about it. The idea of explaining it to a stranger did not appeal to her in any way, shape, or form.

"Do you run the institute?"

She shook her head, "No. There is no institute."

The Professor pointed behind him, "But there was a sign out there that says that-"

"- It failed," she raised her eyebrows causing the man to realize what she meant by failed. Studying volcanic activity did have its consequences.

"Oh..." he sighed scratching the back of his head. "Did you work for him?"

"No, he was my father," Hannah informed slightly smiling. "Would you like to come in?"

"Yeah," Sean rubbed his arms realizing how cold it was outside at this time of year.

She opened the doorway more and the two male's entered the home, "How about some tea? Or hot chocolate?"

Sean grinned, "I will take some hot chocolate."

"Water is fine for me," the Professor sat at the table. Hannah started bustling around the kitchen readying why the two men situated themselves in the awkward situation.

"Here you go Professor Anderson," she set the glass of water down at the table in front of him.

"You can call me Trevor."

She smiled softly before returning to steaming the milk. The distant sound of the music coming from the stairs reminded her of the younger female in the house. She was half tempted to roll her eyes, but felt it would put her on the same level as her daughter so decided against it.

"So what brings you all out here at this time of night looking for a dead man?" Hannah questioned as she took a seat beside Trevor at the small round table.

Trevor started digging through a brown leather satchel. He pulled out the book Journey to the Center the Earth lying it on the table for her to see.

Nodding her head she touched the cover of the book and frowned knowing exactly what that book meant to her father, "Yes, I know it... What about it?"

"This book belonged to my brother Max, Max Anderson. In it there are some notes and one of them was your fathers name... We believe he may have been in contact with him about, I don't know, _something_ important," he explained as he flipped through the pages of the book to show her where her fathers name was scribbled on the side.

"Your brother was a Vernian then?"

"Vernian?" Trevor looked at her questionably. "No... he was an explorer of sorts."

"What's a Vernian?" asked Sean as he took a sip of his hot chocolate.

"A Vernian is that who believes that the writings of Jules Verne were scientific fact," Hannah responded with a chuckle. She thought how much her father believed in the writings to be quite silly. "The guy was a _science fiction _writer. Yet, some people thought that his writings were real and set out to find 'the center of the earth,' my father was the biggest Vernian of them all. He based his life work on that book."

Trevor grimaced, "My brother was no _Vernian_."

Hannah grabbed the book and flipped through the pages. She eyed Trevor determinedly then walked over to the bookshelf that took up most of the wall in the living room. Glancing past the titles of the old books she stopped when she found her own fathers copy of Journey to the Center the Earth. Slipping it off the dusty shelf she plopped it down on the table beside Max Anderson's copy.

"This was my fathers," she flipped it open to a page to show some of the doodles he made on the side. She pushed it closer to Trevor. "Look through it."

He picked it up and started flipping through pages. He stopped on one and Hannah picked up Max's copy and turned it to the same page holding it up beside her fathers, "See. Your brother definitely was a Vernian. This is probably how he knew my father."

Sean leant back in his seat from where had been previously leaning over his uncle's shoulder, "My dad was kind of..." he scowled, "out there."

His uncle snapped his head towards the younger man, "Don't say that. You didn't know him like I did."

"I'm starting to think-" he took the book from Hannah's hands and stared down at the pages. "-that you didn't know him as well as you thought you did, either."

Hannah sighed, "What are you two doing here?"

"I'm a scientist," insisted Trevor with raised eyebrows. "And a professor. There is some seismic activity going on around here and we thought we should check it out."

She gave him a strange look as she motioned to Sean who was engrossed in his book, "With a kid?"

Trevor shrugged his shoulders unsure of how to answer her question. Okay, so it had not been his smartest move, but he didn't know how to take care of kids.

"There are no roads North of here. How do you intend on getting up there?"

Once again, Trevor looked defeated and without a response.

"I'm a mountain guide, how about I take you up there?" Sean's ears perked at this and he nodded his head feverishly.

The conversation was interrupted by footsteps coming down the stairs, "Mom, who are you talking to?"

All heads turned to see a petite brunette walk into the room clad in matching black pajama shorts and tank with a black silk robe untied over her shoulders. She stopped cautiously as she eyed the three in the kitchen sipping on their drinks while the books were resting in their laps.

"Hi?" the girl greeted looking in her mothers direction for a clue. "It's kind of late for company isn't it?"

Hannah waved her into the room, "This is my daughter Emmie. Dear, this is Trevor and Sean. They are here about some seismic activity coming from up in the mountains. They were looking for your grandfather."

She nodded her head, "Alright."

"It's nice to meet you!" Sean stood from his seat and held out his hand with a dreamy grin stretched along his lips. It was just his luck that he was surrounded by beautiful woman on his trip. _Thank God I made Trevor take me on this 'adventure.'_ "My names Sean."

"Yeah," she shook his hand. She backed away from him and tied the robe around her waist. It did nothing to shield her legs from the cold as it ended mid thigh, but it was much chillier downstairs than up in her room. "So, you were saying something about mountain guiding?"

Her mother nodded, "As I was saying, I would be willing to take you up there if you would like?"

"That's a great idea," Trevor smiled widely.

Sean glanced at the girl before him then her mother, "I love idea."

Trevor shook his head and once again said, "That's a great idea."

Standing, Hannah picked up her father's book and brought it over to the shelf, "Then it will by five thousand."

"A day? Yeah that's reasonable," Trevor accepted, he thought about how much money he had in his bank account and knew he could cover up to fifteen grand.

"An hour," said Hannah in an offended tone.

Trevor looked at her like she had a plague, but Sean answered for his uncle, "Do you accept rolls of quarters?"

"I want to go too," inputted Emmie as she placed her hands on her hips.

Hannah eyed her daughter warily, "I am not sure if that is a good idea."

"What are you talking about mom?" she rolled her eyes. "Why else would you buy me hiking gear for my birthday if you didn't expect me to use it?"

"Then it's settled!" Sean slapped his hand together happily. "We hike up to the mountains tomorrow!"

Sighing, Hannah shot her daughter a worried glance. The teenager could be a handful. Not to mention, she did not show much of her mother or father's adventurous spirit. She probably just was so bored of being at the cabin that she had nothing else to do _but_ go mountain climbing with her mom.

"We leave tomorrow at noon."

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><p>What do you think? :3<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I love Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I do not own it. Or do I own anything associated with it. Kay? Let's get on with it then.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

"_Mom_, how much longer?"

Hannah glowered ahead at the rocks.

"My feet hurt."

She glanced to her right to see her daughter a few steps behind her, "About a half hour. I thought you wanted to come?"

"I didn't think we were climbing up the entire mountain!" Emmie exclaimed unhappily. The girl turned to see that the American duo were far behind her mother and her. "Mom, they are so slow. We would make it there faster if they hurried up."

They both paused to see both men stumbling to stay on their feet. Putting a hand to her mouth Hannah shouted, "Hurry up! I want to make it home before sundown."

The mother and daughter turned back around and returned to their hiking. Hannah was actually quite proud of her daughter. The young woman did not even seem out of breath as she paced beside her. Other than her nagging, which she figured she did just because she wanted to be annoying, Emmie was being surprisingly graceful compared to her usually clumsy self.

"Ahh!"

Emmie tripped over a rock and landed on her knees. She got back up and dusted herself off muttering curses under her breath. Hannah sighed, _well at least she isn't tripping as much as she normally does_.

Lower down the mountain, Trevor and Sean eyed the two females as they gave them their backs and started climbing higher up the mountain. They both saw the way Hannah's butt stuck out of her tight spandex pants as she reached up to climb over a larger boulder that clogged their path.

Sean smirked, "Dibs."

"Dibs? You want _dibs_ at a time like this?" Trevor questioned.

"Not the candy," Sean rolled his caramel eyes. "I mean **I **call dibs on the mountain guide."

"You are fifteen. You don't get dibs."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Get over it. I'm cougar meat."

"I wonder if she's married," Trevor stared at the woman way ahead of him curiously. "It didn't look like anyone lived in there other than her. I didn't even realize there was someone else in the house."

"I heard music coming from upstairs," Sean pursed his lips as they finally reached the large boulder. Gripping the top he pulled himself up and kicked off the rock to get over it.

"I wonder how much longer until we get there," muttered Trevor after he lifted himself over the rock. He looked back down and shivered at the path down. It looked more dangerous than going up the mountain.

When they made it over the boulder they found Hannah and Emmie waiting for them. The older of the two pointed towards a group of rocks, "Be careful there. Mount Sneffels is deceptively treacherous. And very slippery at times."

"Mount Sneffels?" Sean questioned.

"Why don't you explain that to him, Professor?"

"Mount Sneffels is the mountain that the fictional character in the book found a portal to the center of the earth," Trevor answered shrugging his shoulders.

"**Finally**!"

Emmie placed her hands on her knees and panted as she let herself rest for a moment. The shinny metal object was planted a distance away from her and she never thought she would be happy to see such an insignificant object. Well, insignificant to her.

Her mother looked back to see Trevor and Sean only a few minutes down. She shook her head. From how they had been so eager to come up the mountain she was surprised by how little energy they had. She would have thought with the adventurous spirit they had shown to come all the way out to see her father would have meant their physical actives would allow them much more movement.

Trevor bonded over to the metal object poking out from the ground without stopping to take a breath. He got on his knees before it and attempted to yank it from the ground.

"_This_ is what we climbed all the way up here for?" Emmie pointed at the object with a scowl.

"It has recorded all the seismic activity from the past years," explained Trevor as he was able to yank it a little more. "It is worth much more than it looks."

She sighed, "I guess you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover."

"Trevor..."

Emmie glanced towards her mom to see her staring intently upward. A gust of wind swept her hair burgundy waves around her face making her realize how the atmosphere had changed. Dark clouds surrounded above their heads making her eyes to widen at the once baby blue sky.

"Trevor, you need to hurry," urged Hannah as she started to casually move away from the metal object. Her mother had been mountain climbing enough times to know when it was time to get going. Storms were worse higher up than down below.

Hannah grabbed her daughters shoulder and started pushing her in the direction of a cave, "I am sorry! But there is no time to-" a bolt of lightening struck close by causing a streak of purple to encased them. "- we need to go. Sean, come on!"

Hesitantly, Emmie started walking away from the older man who was still on the floor tugging on that stupid metal object. Lightening had started to pick up even more around them. Hannah tugged on her arm trying to pull her to go faster. But when a strike hit close by Trevor something inside the younger female snapped. She couldn't let him die.

Wrenching her arm out of her mother's grasp she sprinted back to Trevor. They both tugged the metal piece up due to her adrenaline rush and his combined. When a lightening struck right beside them the duo started running with all their might towards the cave where Hannah and Sean stood.

"Come on! Faster!" Hannah screamed ready to sprint back out herself and slap her daughter for doing something so terribly brave.

Sean's heart raced as one lightening hit right between Trevor and Emmie's feet, "Drop the stupid thing!"

"It's attracting the lightening!" screamed Hannah when she noticed this.

"Let it go," Emmie let out an ear piercing scream as a flash struck even closer to her body. "Now! Or I swear if this lightening doesn't kill us I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

Trevor reluctantly let the metal piece soar behind him and lightening instantly hit it causing it to shatter into bits and pieces. They made it to the cave just as lightening hit the entrance erupting them in an earth shattering collapse. Screams followed as rubble fell upon the four burying them in dust and rock.

A deafening silence followed.

"Mom..." Emmie coughed when she inhaled layers of dust. She pushed rock and dirt off the bottom half of her legs. Shuffling started beside her, which she figured was Trevor considering he had been blasted alongside her when they entered the cave.

"I'm right here. Are you okay?" answered Hannah from across the room. Taking out a flashlight she clicked it on and scanned the area until she found Emmie kneeling on the ground breathing heavily.

Emmie was gently pulled to her feet and she discovered Sean was the one who helped her up. He looked her over quickly then moved onto helping Trevor up. Then it seemed as if a panic settled over him as he stared at the barricaded cave entrance. Or, what used to be the entrance.

Taking handfuls of rocks and shoving heavy boulders out of the way he started to breathe heavily, "Help me dig! Come on. What are you all standing around waiting for?"

Trevor joined his nephew, but after moving a couple rocks let his arms drop to his sides defeated. There were too many...

"Forget it," Hannah muttered.

Sean whirled around glaring at the golden haired woman "Forget it? What do you mean forget it?"

"We are buried too deep in. It would be best to find another way out," she examined the blockade with a sigh.

"She is right, it would take us about a month to dig our way out," Trevor agreed as he moved away from the rocks.

Sean started breathing heavily as Hannah began to dig through her bag to hand out flashlights and brown miner hats. With shaky hands Sean put the hat on is head and turned on the light. The action caused his heavy breathing to become short and raspy as his caramel eyes finally were able to see the mess that the lightening created.

His uncle placed a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Sean. I will get you out of here, promise."

The younger male nodded his head trying to assure himself that his uncle would indeed be able to get him home safe... to Canada. Maybe dying didn't sound _too_ bad compared to the thought of moving to a different country.

As Emmie secured the miner hat atop her dirty hair she caught sight of her mothers once bright orange jacket. She was covered in so much dust that the jacket almost appeared gray. With a frown she wiped sweat from her brow and when she looked down at her hand she saw all the dust that covered _her _entire body. With a disgusted grunt she started to attempt and dust herself off.

"What else do you have in there?" Trevor gestured to Hannah's bag as he grabbed a flashlight.

"Rope, blanket, signal flares, first aide, and some protein bars," the woman shook her head disappointed that she had not been thoughtful enough to bring any more supplies. "We will have to ration the food. It's not enough to last more than a week."

"I brought some purifying tablets for water," inputted Emmie is she took her pack of her back. Her father told her that she should always carry some with her whether she was going for a walk in the forest or going camping for the weekend. "Not that there appears to be water down here... at least not much of it."

Hannah smiled gratefully, "Good. We don't know how long we will be trapped down here for?"

This caused Sean's panic to resurface, "Trapped? _Trapped_?"

"Don't worry," Emmie stuck her chin up. "With me here there is no way we can't escape! I'm a good luck charm."

Taking out his cell phone he held it up and started waving it around wildly, "I am not getting any service! Oh God, check your phones guys!"

Emmie rolled her eyes, "We aren't going to get any service in the mountains. Trust me, I've been trying to all the way up here."

"Sean, we will make it out of here," Trevor reassured him once more. "I promise, remember?"

"Yeah..." he swallowed loudly.

"Then let's get going!" the young girl held her flashlight high in the air. "I don't want to be stuck down here any longer than I need to be. Besides, look at me? I'm covered in dirt. I call shower first when we get back."

They all started walking down the path quietly. Trevor lead, Sean followed after him, Emmie next, and Hannah brought up the rear. There was so much tension in the air someone could probably cut through it with a knife.

Growing bored Emmie quizzed, "So... where are you guys from?"

"New York," Trevor answered breathlessly.

"Oh? That's interesting," she mused.

"What about you?" Sean added glancing back at her briefly. "You don't sound Icelandic."

"My dad's an explorer," her mother snorted, but she ignored her. "My grandparents lived in the states so a majority of my time was spent there when my dad would go off on his adventures."

"Why didn't you live here?"

"In this cave?" Emmie joked. "Because mom was young. She didn't really have the means to take care of me on her own."

Hannah bit her lip, "Not that I didn't want her."

"I know you did mom," Emmie smiled back at her mom.

The conversation ended when they found a fork in the rode. Hannah pointed a light at each doorway and thought long and hard on which one might be the best choice.

"How do we know which one to take?" asked Sean, the panic lacing his voice once more.

"My gut says we go right," Trevor responded and started in that direction.

Following behind him, Trevor started talking about how direction was his six sense. Also, how he enjoyed field work. Emmie was half-tempted to snort. The guy was the biggest nerd on the planet. She figured field work to him was something like digging rocks from his fenced in backyard with the dog running around behind him.

Hannah pushed Emmie aside as she saw the gaping hole before them. Screaming "watch out" she gripped onto the back of Trevor's grimy jacket and tugged him back. All you could hear was Sean's breathing and Hannah shoving Trevor into the wall.

"This isn't your lab Professor!" she mocked gazing up into his light blue eyes. "This is real. You have to be on your guard because you can die."

Moving away from him she stared down. She shined her light into the blackened pit, but could not see the bottom by doing so.

Picking up a rusted sign of the ground, Trevor handed it to Hannah, "What does this say?"

"Halda út," she read as she took it from his hands. "It means keep out. This is good."

"Good?" Sean asked surprised. "How is that good? It's saying keep out. Maybe we should take it's advice."

"Or you could always ignore it," Emmie pointed downward. "It probably isn't even that deep."

Sean looked back at her, "If I can't see the bottom then that means it's deep."

"Give me one of those flares," Trevor requested with a hand motion towards Hannah. She opened her bag and pulled out one handing it to him. Then she began to slide off her jacket and stuff it into her pack. "Sean, hold out your hand."

He did as told and Trevor pointed at his watch, "I am going to drop the flare. I want you to count how many seconds pass until it reaches the ground."

Emmie copied her mother and started tugging off the black jacket she wore as Trevor lit the flare. He started pointing it upwards and counting, but as he straightened his arm out the flame touched the wall and sent off sparks and explosions through the cave.

She felt something ram into her and knock her into the ground, which she found difficulty maneuvering around considering she had her arm behind her back from attempting to take off the jacket. When the bursts of explosions ceased she found Sean on top of her looking around the cave wide eyed. He seemed to be too engrossed into what happened to realize the compromising position he had insinuated.

"What was that?" Hannah was leaning on her elbows eyeing Trevor warily.

The man stood from where he had fallen to the floor and touched the ceiling. He sniffed his fingers and frowned, "Magnesium. It must run through the walls."

"Magnesium is kind of... flammable.. Professor, isn't it?" Hannah chuckled as she started to lift herself up.

Trevor nodded with a smile and motioned around them, "Yeah. It's used in gun powder, matchsticks..."

Emmie pushed Sean's chest roughly and he rolled over beside her. A blush tinted his cheeks, but was hardly visible underneath all the grime that covered his face. He hadn't realized that he had been pressed on top of her body, breathing heavily, and with her legs spread out so he was nestled snug between her. She finished pulling off her jacket and Sean stood moving beside his uncle embarrassedly.

"Maybe flares aren't the best idea then," Hannah started going through her pack and pulled out an orange glow stick.

Trevor held it towards Sean, "It's the same principal, got it?"

He rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he was five.

"Three, two, one-" Trevor released the glow stick into the hole.

Sean began counting instantly, "One... two... thr-"

**Thud**.

"Almost three."

"Two thousand feet," Trevor calculated looking back at Hannah. "Approximately."

Sean raised his eyebrows, "That's like... a huge building."

"Twenty story high rise," he laughed.

"I have rope," Hannah started taking the thick string from her bag.

"Enough of it?" Trevor asked as he saw her pulling even more out. He wondered how she fit it all in there.

"I always have enough rope," Hannah informed giving him a pointed stare.

"You aren't suggesting we go down there," Sean walked closer to the edge and motioned towards it.

"We are going to rappel down," his uncle answered.

"Down into that _deep dark_ hole?" Sean scoffed.

Trevor smirked, "Is that a problem?"

"Pft," he waved his hand pretending he wasn't afraid when he saw Emmie giving him an amused grin. Hannah started situating the rope and Sean let his facade slide off. "There is no way I am rappelling down there."

"Your man enough to call dibs on the mountain guide," Trevor smugly said with raised eyebrows. "But not man enough to climb down a dark hole?"

Emmie snorted.

"Guys!" Hannah interrupted with a frown. "No one calls dibs on the mountain guide."

Trevor and Sean both turned crimson, however, it was a bit more visible this time from how dark their cheeks became.

"Okay..." said mountain guide stood with the rope in her hand. "Are we ready?"

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><p><strong>So, the story is sticking to some more of the actual script from the movie than I intended. But once I get more into the actual "center of the earth" part it will be more original. BECAUSE they happened to be there for quite a bit of time, but it was shown in some flashes so you don't see anything else that happened down there. I got a reviewer! Thank you so much! I honestly wasn't sure how many reviews, if I'd get any at all, on this story because Journey to the Center of the Earth isn't that popular YET. Just wait, as soon as it comes out in theaters there are going to be TONS of stories on here popping up.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Pulling tightly to secure the rope one final time Hannah smiled at Sean comfortingly, "Ready Sean?"

"Why are we doing this again?" Sean asked with worry lacing every word. His hands fumbled shakily with the rope tied around his body making sure they were all extremely tight.

Hannah chuckled, "If we don't then we will be stuck in this cave forever. This is our only option."

"What about the other path?" he pleaded with a frown.

"It would probably end up taking us the same way Sean," Hannah patted his shoulder gently. "Don't worry. We are all connected."

"Are you guys coming down here?" Trevor asked up towards the two that were talking on the edge. Emmie and him were half-way down the hole already without much effort. Although, Emmie seemed to slip a bit more than Trevor. "It's pretty great down here..."

Sean gulped.

"_Way _down here."

Leaning over the edge he started to ease himself down with Hannah's help, "Alright Sean. I'm going to start lowering you down slowly. Stay calm and keep your grip tight and footing careful. Try not to slip."

Trevor looked up at his nephew and snickered at the frightened expression on his face.

"Lean back Sean," Hannah ordered as she started to let herself fall beside him. "We are all connected so nothing is going to happen, okay?"

He exhaled shakily, "Sure."

"_Baby_..." Emmie muttered under her breath. Just as she said it her footing slipped and she had to grab hard onto a sharp rock. She cursed loudly and her mother shook her head at her daughter. Sean heard the mocking comment and shot her a scowl.

"You're looking pretty good up there," Trevor said as he slid down with ease. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?"

"Shut it," Sean grumbled closing his eyes. The fact that every one was doing this better than him was starting to make him afraid and very intimidated. Not to mention pretty helpless. He couldn't even fend for himself.

He kicked some rocks with his foot and they bounced off the walls _and _on Trevor's head. His uncle shot him another comment, but re-focused on himself and the now pounding headache he had.

"Sean," Hannah said forcefully. "Talk to me. It will make it easier."

He swallowed loudly, "So, Hannah, you come here often?"

Emmie scoffed, "Really Sean? Really?"

"Is that the best you could come up with?" jeered Trevor. Emmie and him shared a snicker at Sean's expense while his cheeks turned a deep red.

"I'm making conversation with her!" Sean retorted hotly.

"No Sean," Hannah laughed throwing her head back. "I do not come here often."

Trevor became intrigued with the rock, "Hey, look at all this schist!"

"Shit? What shit?" Emmie questioned softly as she pulled her hand back with worry, but only saw the dirt from the rocky walls.

Sean looked down, "What?"

"It's a metamorphic rock... Green schist, garnet schist, mica-garnet schist."

"Oh, schist," Sean looked hard at the rock as well. He had learned about it in one of his science classes at school.

"Look at it-" Trevor went to reach over to look grab at a piece of rock, however he lost his footing. With a scream his rope pulled out and tangled around Hannah's causing her to loose her grip. Soon everyone was screaming and lost their footing. Emmie, Sean, and Hannah were able to grasp the rocky walls once more although Trevor still swung in the middle.

"Trevor I'm sorry but I am going to have to cut you loose. You are tied around my rope and you will bring us all down if I don't," Hannah shouted as she took a switch blade from her pocket.

"No Hannah!" Sean screamed as he stared down at his uncle with wide worried eyes.

"Don't, don't, don't!" Trevor begged as he attempted to grab onto the wall.

Emmie attempted to reach a hand out to reach Trevor, "Give me your hand Trevor! I think I can get you!"

The older man reached for her and their fingertips brushed just as Hannah cut the rope loose. A short thump was heard and Emmie sighed with relief as she realized Trevor was only a few feet from the ground.

"Hey guys, I found it. The bottoms right here..."

"Oh thank God..." she exhaled. Staring up at her mother she shot the woman a disapproving look.

"You knew the ground was there, right Hannah?" Trevor called up wishfully.

Hannah ignored him and the looks Sean and Emmie gave her as they continued their way down. When Emmie's feet touched the floor she loosened the rope and darted over to Trevor's side. He still sat on the floor trying to recuperate from falling hard on his back.

"You okay?" she asked as she examined his dazed expression.

He nodded, "Yeah. My head is just killing me."

Pulling her backpack around front she started going through the pockets and found her own first aid kit. She took out a couple Advil and her only water bottle handing it to the man. He thanked her quietly as he took a drink and plopped the pills into his mouth.

Sean touched the ground before Hannah and came to his uncle's side. He shook his head, "I am _never _doing that again."

"I hope you don't have to," Emmie smirked. "You slow us down kiddo."

"I'm not a kid," Sean grumbled giving the smaller girl a glare. She was almost half his size and she was calling him a kid. His pride was also hurt by her comment. He already knew he was sucking at this whole adventure thing; he didn't need her to rub it in.

"He was doing rather well," Hannah nodded at Sean approvingly. "For a first timer."

Her daughter rolled her eyes and stuck out a hand to help Trevor stand on his feet.

"Do you remember your first time?"

"Let's not talk about that right now Mom," she took her flashlight and moved it around the bottom of the cave stopping at an opening. "Does that look like a mining tunnel to you guys?"

Trevor agreed, "Yeah it sure does."

"Old Bla'gils Mine... it was shut down after a big disaster over sixty years ago," Hannah inputted as they walked closer to the tunnel.

"How big?" Sean bit his lip nervously.

"Eighty-one dead."

"That's big."

Emmie frowned, "Well, let's get going then."

"Hey Trevor," Sean asked as they started walking. He gazed around and the stony walls amazed. If anyone told him a few hours ago what he would be doing he would have never believed them. "Was there a mining tunnel like this in the book?"

His uncle shook his head, "No. I don't think so."

Emmie fell back beside Sean who had ended up picking up the rear this time. He glanced at her confusedly, but didn't say anything as they walked silently.

"I am not my father!" Hannah shouted out. Emmie looked up at her mother to see her angrily pointing a finger at Trevor's face. She had missed the conversation as she had been spacing out staring at her surroundings. "I loved him very much, but he was caught up in these strange fictional stories... I refuse to believe they could be real."

She winced at her mothers words. She knew how much her grandfather's crazed obsession with the books had caused her mom to resent them and him.

Emmie would never admit it to her mother, but sometimes she believed that her grandfather hadn't been a crazy old cook that everyone made him out to be. How could someone be so dedicated to something and it not be real? It just didn't seem plausible. At least... it didn't fit in her mind that someone she cared about could be making something so extreme up.

Then when she was younger and came to visit her grandpa would read her the stories before bed. He would tell her all his little findings and how they fell into place. How it all made sense that it _wasn't _just a book. She wanted to believe for him. That is the truth to why she had decided to come along on this little adventure.

Yesterday when her mother had invited the two men in she had seen them approaching from outside her bedroom window. She had snuck outside of her room to listen to the conversation and overheard the topic of her grandfather come up and the way they talked about the book...

Never in her life had she been much of an adventurous person. Emmie liked boys, makeup, clothes, and hanging out with friends on the weekends. She wasn't an explorer like her dad or a mountain hiker like her mom. But when her grandfather was mentioned there was something in her gut that told her she needed to go **for him**.

"Do you think it's real?" she whispered the question to Sean. Hannah was informing Trevor that he was still being billed so she knew she wouldn't overhear their conversation.

He glanced at her skeptically, "Not really. Do you?"

"Sometimes," she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Gramps used to tell me stories when I was little about the book. He told me they were real and he showed me facts..."

"I want to believe it's real," Sean said honestly. He gave her an unsure smile. "I don't want to think my dad was crazy."

They came up to a change in the ceiling length. Sean looked to his right and saw a bunch of odd wiring and machinery, "Hey Hannah, what's that?"

"That's an old mining generator..." she walked up to it and started pressing buttons. A noise started and Sean backed away.

"Hannah, stop touching that," Trevor scolded worriedly. "It could blow up."

"It might turn on the lights," informed Hannah ignoring Trevor's words.

"Stop flipping switches, no don't touch that!" he stepped forward and flinched as Hannah grabbed a large handle. "Don't do it Hannah!"

Then she pulled it up and a loud buzzing sounded. Soon after lights started to turn on one by one lightening the entire cave dimly. A gasp escaped Emmie's lips at all the tracks and tools that surrounded the place.

Trevor laughed happily, "Okay I take it back. You can touch anything you want."

"That's what she said," Emmie said under her breath. Her mother smacked her arm at hearing the comment.

"This is our way out right?" asked Sean as he rushed up to one of the mining carts. "They had to get the supplies somehow."

"Hey Hannah, how many people got out?" Trevor muttered looking around.

"One."

Sean hopped into the front cart, "Well, that's a start. I call front."

"Me too," Emmie jumped into the cart beside him. He scooted over to give her room.

Trevor rolled his eyes, "Get out of there. We don't even know if they work."

Hannah appeared on one with a lever to push the carts, "Apparently they do."

"We don't know if they are safe," Trevor pressed mutinying ahead.

"Looks good from here," Sean stated with a frown.

"Just get in," Emmie urged. "What else do you propose we do?"

With an annoyed sigh, Trevor hopped into the cart behind them. Hannah started pumping and eventually they sped up to a quick pace. There was silence until Sean leant forward in the cart.

"Sean, I don't think you should be doing that," Trevor called out parentally as his nephew leant even more out of the cart.

"I think I see something..." he trailed off.

Emmie turned her head and squinted in the distance. Her stomach knotted.

"If it's not daylight I don't want to know."

"No..." Emmie breathed out loudly.

"No, it's not daylight," he stared back at his uncle, 'We're in deep schist."

* * *

><p><strong>Happy New Years Eve you all! I hope you have a great and safe adventure into the year 2011. I know I'm probably going to be sloshed out of my mind on coke and rum with one of my greatest friends, hah. My New Years resolution is to grow my hair down to my ass. What's yours?<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Four screams erupted as the speed of the carts picked up as the tracks dropped down in a deep slope. Emmie looked back to see if her mom was okay seeing as the woman was standing with nothing surrounded her like Trevor, Sean, and herself. The woman's knuckles were white as she held on with all her strength to the bars.

A lurch sent her flying forward and Sean gripped her around her upper torso to save her from falling out of the cart. Her left hand held onto the edge of the cart and the other gripped his arm tightly.

"Why aren't there any seatbelts on this thing?" Sean screamed searching around them for something to hold them down.

Trevor almost laughed, "You are worried about _seatbelts_?"

"Oh my..." Emmie trailed off. She shook Sean's arm and pointed up ahead where a break in the tracks occurred. "Do you guys see that?"

"Hannah!" Sean yelled petrified. He could see his life flashing before his eyes.

"I know..." the woman muttered.

"Pull the breaks," Trevor motioned towards the lever in the front of their cart.

As Sean reached forward to pull it Hannah objected loudly, "No! We will never make it if you do it."

"Then what should we do?" Emmie could feel tears in her eyes. Turning towards her mother she saw her starting to pump the carts faster.

More screams echoed as they flew over the gap and landed painfully back on the tracks. However, the action caused the carts to break apart onto three different tracks.

Trevor was above them now shouting down, "Stay put!"

Emmie would have laughed if she weren't scared out of her mind. Where did he expect her to go?

A jolt to the right made Emmie fly left. Her hold on Sean's arm slipped and she was half-way out of the cart faster than she had time to register. Her scream bounced off the walls loudly.

Reaching out towards the petite female, Sean wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her back into the cart before she fell out. He panted heavily as she smashed against his chest. They both stayed like that for a moment until their cart surged downward quickly making them stumble apart.

Being fed up with almost falling out of the cart Emmie sat on the floor of it. She hugged Sean's legs and buried her messy hair between his kneecaps. He would have made a joke, but knew by the fear he had that it wouldn't be funny.

The cart slowly began to slow down after a few more twists and turns. She peeked her head up to see Sean staring down at her with a wide toothy smile on his face. It was the first time she had ever seen him look remotely happy... she actually thought he looked kind of cute.

"That was awesome!" he exclaimed pumping his fists into the air.

Emmie shook her head slowly gaping up at him as if he were crazed. Awesome was the last thing she thought that was.

He looked over outside the cart to see his uncle and Hannah sprawled on the floor in a tangle of limbs, "What happened to you guys?"

Trevor scowled at the delighted boy, "Don't ask."

"Where's Emmie?" Hannah sat up to see her daughter nowhere in sight."

"Right here," Emmie responded meekly. Sean held out a hand and she grabbed it pulling herself into a standing position. Feeling wobbly due to the ride she grabbed onto Sean's biceps to steady herself. "I'm never doing that again."

"Hey look!"

Sean hopped out of the cart towards a hole in the wall, "What do you think this is?"

"Don't go in there," Trevor demanded. However, Sean was already inside the small opening before he finished his sentence. With a grunt he got onto his feet and followed his nephew.

"What are you talking about?" Sean laughed. "This could be our way out!"

Emmie climbed out of the cart and shared a look with her mom. These two were endless.

"Guys you aren't going to believe this," Sean touched the wall hungrily as his eyes caught a glimmer of the red crystal. "Rubies!"

"Emeralds," Hannah ran a hand over the smooth green rock.

Trevor grinned, "Feldspar."

"That's not it!" Emmie rushed between them wide eyed. Her eyes glimmered as she looked back at her three companions. "Diamonds..."

"Crystals are frequently formed and found in volcanic tubes," Trevor explained as he plucked one of the diamonds from the wall.

Hannah smiled, "This tube can take us back up. Right?"

They both looked upward, "Yes."

Emmie was more focused on the diamonds. She grabbed a few and stuck them in the pockets of her gray spandex pants greedily. Although, a yellow Oppenheimer diamond caught her eye. She stood on the tips of her toes to reach for it, but it was too high. Giving up she turned around to see her mother watching her carefully. She started walking towards the woman while letting her fingers trail over the diamonds in the wall.

Sean had noticed her trying to read the yellow diamond. He gripped it tightly between his fingers and yanked it out of the wall. He stuck it deep into his backpack so that there was no way he could lose it.

"When I get out of here I'm getting a Maserati..." Sean said as he stuck another diamond in his pack.

"Money is not all that matters Sean. People matter too..." Trevor looked hungrily at the flashy objects. "... or something like that."

Hannah sighed at the men, "How about we try and get out of here now?"

Sean tried reaching for a higher diamond and a crack sounded, "Did you guys hear that?"

**Crack**, "Nobody move."

They all looked towards Trevor who spread out his hands, "Muscovite."

"No," Hannah glanced down.

"Muscovite..." Emmie scrunched her nose.

Sean eyed his uncle, "Muscovite? What's that?"

"Muscovite is a thin rock formation. It can break at the slightest change in weight or pressure," informed Trevor as he waved his hands around. "And we are standing on a lot of it."

Emmie readjusted the strap around her shoulder and another crack sounded. Her mother swung her hand out, "Stop it! Don't move."

"We are all going to walk back the same way we came. Slowly," Trevor stepped backwards. "We need to be as slow as possible."

They all began to move at a snails pace. But Emmie saw it before anyone else. She cried out as a diamond slipped from the top of Sean's backpack. He followed her eyes and tried to reach for the diamond in time, but it was too quick. It landed directly in the middle of the muscovite causing all around it to shatter.

A moment of silence followed and they could have sworn they were safe. Trevor breathed a sigh of relief and was about to start speaking when the sound of the rock splitting erupted tenfold. It shattered completely and the four screamed as they fell downward.

Emmie reached out for Sean's hand and he gripped hers tightly. Her mother found Sean's other hand and Trevor's.

"What is at the bottom?" Hannah questioned as they continued to fall after a few moments.

"If what Verne wrote was correct... then this tunnel can go on for thousands of miles," Trevor looked down. It sure felt like it was going to go on for thousands more.

"Well," she snapped. "He wasn't right."

"Then, in theory, it should just end."

Emmie cried, "What?"

"Any other theories?" Sean asked giving Emmie's hand a tighter squeeze.

"Well, the walls could have eroded due to water, which could gradually break are fall."

"Like a water slide?"

"Exactly like a water slide," he agreed.

Hannah scowled, "What if the water formed stalagmites pointing straight up at us?"

"Oh God," Emmie shrieked. "We are going to be in pieces!"

"That is possible..." said Trevor mournfully.

"Dude," Sean yelled at his uncle motion with his head towards the ballistic girl alongside him. "Not cool."

"Is that water?" Hannah released her hold on Sean's hand and let her fingers glide against the liquid. "It is water!"

"Water slide, water slide," Sean repeated under his breath clenching his eyes shut tightly as he prayed.

The large body of water swallowed them. It was deep and dark in the liquid. Sean and Trevor emerged to the surface first.

"I'm not in pieces," Sean stated feeling himself just to make sure.

"Where's Hannah?" Trevor looked around him. Neither Hannah or Emmie had emerged. He swam back underneath the water just as Emmie came to the surface.

She coughed up fits of water and Sean reached for her pulling her on top of a rocky surface. They both laid on their backs catching their breath.

Hannah and Trevor appeared not a moment later. The older woman clung to his shoulders, "My backpack was too heavy..."

They all lay on their backs in silence. All that was heard was the sounds of rippling water and their uneven breathing as they tried to readjust themselves.

"I hate water..." Emmie muttered softly. She let her head fall against Sean's shoulder tiredly. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. Was that so much to ask for?

"Is it just me or does the ceiling look like it's moving?" inquired Sean. He pointed upward at the shimmering lights.

"I think they are stars..." Hannah suggested blinking skyward.

"No," Sean rejected with a frown. "It's definitely moving."

"Yeah..." Emmie nodded her head. She looked at Sean's face and his eyes met hers. For the first time he realized her eyes were a grayish color. He had thought they were the same color as her moms light blue iris's. "They are moving!"

She let herself slip away from his body and stood up. The others soon followed suit and the ceiling, or what they assumed was the ceiling, started to squawk. Then the bluish figures started to descend downwards.

Emmie gasped, "Birdies."

"Electric birds?" Sean asked hesitantly. One of the feathered creatures flew towards him as if it were expecting him as well, but shot off before Sean could get a better look.

"They look like Cyanis rosopteryx.." Trevor said as he squinted up at them. "They are bioluminescent like glowworms."

"Pretty..." Emmie tried to reach out to touch one and it sped off. They took off all at once down a long tunnel revealing a pathway.

"Look a tunnel," Trevor pointed out with a grin. "Come on guys."

They started in the direction. Trevor watched closely as a bird flew past him, "It's insane. These birds have been extinct for over 150 million years..."

"It's almost like-" he stopped speaking as they made it past the pathway. A fresh breeze rolled past them causing their movements to halt.

Lush green plants surrounded them. There were thousands of exotic flowers, tall trees, and there was soil beneath their feet. And then a large fiery ball was high, high up in the center of everything. Emmie almost cried at the beauty of it.

"Ladies and gentleman..." Trevor smiled. "I give you the center of the earth."

* * *

><p>AHH! We are getting more into the story. I'll let you guys in on something... I TOTALLY have the sequal planned out so if you like it plan on another ;-)<p>

Basically, I want to write this story to write the second one. BECAUSE the second one will be more focused on what I think and not be based on something prior. Ya dig?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Whoa," Emmie breathed in the fresh grassy scent. Her hand reached out to feel the pedals of one of the large dandelions. It felt soft and fluffy; cotton like. Smiling, she bent her head down and blew against the seeds causing them to fly off into the air.

"... they both believed in something that everyone told them was impossible..."

She turned towards Trevor and laughed at the abnormally happy face he had on. Even her mother looked pleased. Maybe she was feeling relief that her father, after all this time, really wasn't as crazy as everyone made him out to be. Sure, the old man was kooky, but he was right.

Sean stepped beside her and picked one of the large dandelion seeds. He released it into the sky and watched it float away, "I can't believe it's real."

Hannah pointed towards the bright light in the sky, "What is that?"

"It looks like a sun," Emmie commented. "But... not at the same time."

"It must be some sort of gas combustion," muttered Trevor. He looked thoughtful as he eyed the orangeish mass in the sky.

"Like a terrarium," said Sean.

"A terrarium a thousand of miles beneath the earth's crust..." the older man grinned. "Amazing."

Emmie furrowed her brows, "A world..."

"Within a world. Yes," Trevor started walking forward.

"The waterfalls, which for a long time, could be heard flowing from afar... now cascaded along the towering canyon walls... streaming along the rock with no end."

"Someone was down here before," raising her eyes to Trevor's he nodded in agreement. "Gramps told me once about how he met some guy that claimed to have gone to the center of the earth. That he had shown them proof. That's why he believed in it so much."

Her mother frowned, "He told you that?"

"Yeah..." Emmie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. "He told me a lot of things..."

Trevor raised his brows, "Like?"

"Well, that someone had been here and got out. That's an important thing," Emmie muttered frustrated that they were prying. There were some things her grandpa had discussed with her that she didn't feel the trio should know at the moment -especially Sean.

"Someone got out..." Trevor repeated.

Sean laughed, "That's the best thing I've heard all day."

"We should find shelter," Hannah stated picking up her pace to stand beside Trevor. "Eating and rest are our main priorities right now. We wont be able to go on much longer without it."

"I am starving..." whined Sean as he placed his hand over his grumbling stomached. "Do you think any of this stuff is edible?"

"Maybe," Trevor looked at the plants around him.

Hannah looked behind her at the two younger children, "Hey look at this Trevor."

She pulled the man to the side and luckily the teens stood back watching them oddly. Trevor motioned to the mushroom, "That's a huge mushroom. Maybe we can eat it..."

"Trevor, do you think everything in the book is real?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"I'm not sure," he pursed his lips. "Probably though."

"Even the dangerous things?"

He looked back at Sean suddenly very protective of his nephew, "I was just thinking about that too."

The ground seemed to shudder causing a rumbling noise to echo throughout the land. Hannah and Trevor whirled around to see both of their responsibilities looking at something excitedly.

"Hey, come here quick!"

Sean reached the tree house first. Looking back at his uncle he tilted his head upward, "I'm going in."

"Me too."

"I wanna come!" Emmie ran up behind Sean and followed him inside the tree.

"I'll be right back," Hannah called towards them. She started towards the woodsy area surrounding the quaint tree house. Her feet hit the ground as she looked for somewhere to use the bathroom. The feeling had become so extreme she could hardly hold it any longer.

However the urge to use the bathroom faded when she saw something slumped over in the corner of her eye. She cautiously stepped closer to the object and gasped loudly. Bones... human bones.

She kneeled beside the body and noticed that the flanges were wrapped around a metal flask. Tugging it gently out of the dead man's grasp she rubbed her fingers over the metal. Her heart clenched at the name she read... _Max_.

"Oh Sean..." she whispered sadly.

"Look at this!" Emmie held up a facial shaving razor.

"I can't believe someone lived here..." Sean was rummaging through some bags and pulled out a journal. He flipped through the pages. "I think I found Liedenbrock's notebook."

Trevor held out his hand and Sean gave him the leather-bound journal. The man's face turned sour, "This isn't Liedenbrock's notebook."

He opened his brother's copy of Journey to the Center of the Earth and placed it beside the journal. Emmie raised her eyebrows and watched as reels went off in Sean's brain. The expression was clear on his face, "It's my dad's..."

She placed the razor back by the empty bucket carefully. The sudden overwhelming feeling of imposing became extreme. Sean had grabbed the notebook back and was flipping through the pages aggressively almost as if just glancing at the pages would answer all his questions.

"Trevor!" her mother's voice stirred her. Trevor and her both moved towards the large gap in the tree house to see Hannah's unsure expression. "Can I talk with you for a moment, alone?"

He glanced at his nephew before going down the gapping hole. Sean and Emmie were left alone in the tree house. She didn't want to intrude on Sean's searching so she looked back out the window to watch her mother and Trevor.

Hannah handed Trevor the flask as he stopped before her. He ran his fingers over the metal like she had moments before.

"I think I found Max..." she mumbled not making eye contact with the man before her.

They moved through the forest tensely. Hannah put her hand out to stop them and she looked in the direction of the body. Trevor silently made his way over to the body and fell to his knees.

"So this is what really happened," Trevor shook his head. All that was left were his bones, deteriorated fabric, and a broken flashlight.

Turning towards Hannah he sighed, "We should burry him on the beach. He would like that."

Sean stared at Hannah and Trevor as they entered the tensely silent tent. The woman walked over to her daughters side and grabbed her hand gently. The two had never been physically close. Hugs and kisses were never a big thing when it came to them. But all Hannah wanted to do was wrap her arms around her daughter and tell her how much she meant to her.

"So..." Sean said raising his brows.

"We found Max," he whispered.

"Where?" a look of excitement crossed the fifteen-year-olds features.

Trevor swallowed loudly as a misty gloss crossed his eyes, "He's not alive Sean."

Uncomfortably, Emmie stood beside her mother. Trevor was piling stones atop the bones that were Max Anderson's. In the corner of gray eyes she could see Sean watching with a tight jaw.

When Trevor finished he went onto Sean's other side and stared at the placement. It was then when Sean finally began to speak.

His voice cracked, "I just wish I could have known him."

"He wrote something for you," Trevor slid a folded parchment from his pocket. He faced Sean as he began to speak. "August 14, 1997. Today was Sean's third birthday. Six weeks ago, I promised myself I would be home in time to give him his first baseball glove."

Hannah squeezed her daughters hand.

"Now I'm worried that I'll never get the chance," Trevor's striking blue gaze met Sean's dark caramel eyes. "I set out to make an incredible discovery to share with Trevor and the world..."

Sean blubbered out a sob. Emmie stared at Sean hard. It was as if this was the first time she was really seeing him. His eyes were lighter than usual as they sparkled with tears and his jaw was shaking as he tried to hold back from crying out louder.

Her mother was beside her crying, Trevor had silent tears rolling down his cheeks, while Sean sobbed as quietly as possible to himself. Then Emmie stood their staring. She was discovering something... something she hadn't realized she was capable of doing. Sean was different than anyone she had ever met before and that was something she never wanted to lose.

"But now, I would trade it all..." the man let out a sob this time. "...just to be able to watch you grow up-" he grabbed Sean and brought him to a fatherly hug. "-to be the brave and caring man I am certain you will become. Happy birthday, Sean. I love you. Daddy."

After a few moments of muffled crying they broke apart. Not bothering to spare the two females a glance they started their way back toward the tree house.

Emmie stared at her mom. The golden haired woman was looking out at the ocean seemingly lost in her own thoughts. She laced her fingers through her mother's tenderly and let her eyes fall on the ocean.

"Sometimes I wonder," Hannah laughed to herself softly. "How much different our lives would be if your father had really loved me enough to stay."

She eyed her mother warily, but let the woman continue in a soft voice, "I used to think it would be better. You would stay my sweet little angel forever. The bitterness that came over you as you got older, when you realized things weren't the way they were supposed to be, would have never emerged. Now... I don't think that would have done you any good. You have proved me wrong in so many ways in one day."

Hannah gave her a teary eyed smile, "I am so proud that you are my daughter."

"I have hardly done anything worth being proud over," she shrugged her shoulders awkwardly not wanting to accept the compliment.

"Yes you have," Hannah gazed down at her daughter. She ran a hand through the young woman's dirty brunette waves affectionately. "You have been so brave. So powerful... I have never been proven more wrong in my entire life."

"Anyone else would have died by now," she added with a smirk. "But not my daughter."

She smirked, "Well, we aren't out of here yet."

"Let's go back," Hannah tugged on her daughters hand.

"I think I'm going to sit on the beach for a bit," she objected letting her hand fall free from her mother's. 'I need sometime to breathe. No offense, but I've been in through enough life or death situations with you guys today that I need some space."

Hannah nodded her head understandingly, "Make it back before the sun sets please... or whatever that is."

"So.. what you are saying is that we are surrounded by lava in a giant air pocket and are going to incinerate in the next few days unless we get out of here?" Sean questioned staring hard at Trevor. The man nodded his head as he read the pages of his brother's journal. "The average human cannot survive beyond one hundred and thirty-five degrees. Right now it is-"

"Ninety-five," Hannah inputted.

"It was eighty-five when we arrived here," he sighed. "The temperatures are rising too quickly. We will have to get out of here as soon as possible if we want to live."

"What's the plan?" his nephew eyed him warily. The idea of being baked like cookies in a giant oven didn't sound appealing to him. Canada was sounding better the longer he was stuck in here.

"In the book the character notes a geyser-river across the ocean that can be used to make an escape to the surface. I say we follow that," Trevor picked up a doodle that Max drew in his journal. He pointed where the geyser was. "That is where we need to go."

Hannah frowned, "How much time do we have left?"

"Forty hours or less."

"Let's rest for now and get started after we are energized," she said with a sigh.

"We will follow Max's plan," he put the journal on the table gently. Turning to Sean he smiled. "Get some sleep."

Sean glanced around the room, "Where is Emmie?"

"She's out by the shore still," Hannah responded looking out the window. It had only been about thirty minutes since she left her alone, but this world was so dangerous she was a bit worried.

"Why?"

"She wanted some space."

He sighed tiredly, "I'll go get her. She shouldn't be out there alone anyway."

Without further notice he exited the tree house. Hannah shot Trevor a look and the man raised a brow, "What?"

"He likes her..." she smiled amusedly.

Trevor laughed, "Yeah."

"How about you and I take the floor and we let either Emmie or Sean take the hammock?"

The two adults started to ready themselves as they waited for their teenagers to return.

* * *

><p><strong>I know you guys have been waiting for some flush! Sorry that it took to chapter SIX to give it to you ;-) But next chapter you will see some fluff between Emmie and Sean hehe! :3<strong>

**- On that note. In this story you wont be seeing much like "head over heels" in love type of relationship from them. I don't want to give much away, but they are both really young and I don't think Sean would really be interested in that kind of relationship yet. DON'T WORRY. I am finishing the final chapter of this story and starting on the sequel soon! So, they will be way older and way more mature for more of a ROMANCE in that one. With some OTHER drama included. Hehe.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

He found her standing beside his father's grave. Her waist length brunette waves were caked with dirt, but still blew as the wind swept by. She had on a beige diego that was stained with dust and dirt. The gray spandex shirt she wore was muddy and had rips in the knees where she had fallen numerous times. Then her black hiking boots looked like they were trashed from all the damage they had been through in the past twenty-four hours.

When she heard his footsteps draw closer she faced him and even with all the dirt, torn clothing, and matted hair Sean thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever laid eyes on.

"Hey," Emmie whispered delicately as he stopped a short distance away from her. She held out her hand and he looked at her unsurely. But she raised it higher and he hesitantly let his callused fingers wrap around her own mud stained hands.

They were silent for a few moments just staring out at the ocean. The heat had definitely picked up in the last few hours. Sweat was dripping down Sean's neck and he suddenly felt very self-conscious. He eyed the petite girl beside him carefully.

"I don't know you well," she broke the silence boldly. She met her gray eyes with his. "But your dad would be proud of you."

His lips twitched into a small grin, "Thanks."

"How old are you Sean?"

"Fifteen..." Sean realized that what Emmie said was true. After all they had been through they hardly knew one another. He didn't know her age. Her favorite color. What kind of music she listened to. _If_ she had a boyfriend. "What about you?"

Emmie smirked over at him, "Guess."

"Fifteen?" he asked hopefully. She shook her head. There was no way she was younger than him she was too mature and, well, endowed. Although, they did say girls matured faster than boys. "Sixteen?"

"Seventeen," she interjected with a wink. "I've got two years on you buddy."

"Really?" Maybe she likes younger guys... well he hoped she did. After all, he was cougar meat. That's what he told himself anyway.

"Yep!"

"So... do you have a boyfriend?"

She barked a laugh, "You are really bad at this kind of thing aren't you?"

"What thing?" a scowl made it's way over his face.

"_So, Hannah, come here often_?" she jeered referring to earlier that morning while they were climbing down the giant hole. "And no, I don't have a boyfriend."

A blush tinted his cheeks, "That's... cool."

"Yeah, good job at beating around the bush," Emmie gave him a dimpled smile. "But, it's kind of adorable. Not to mention you are cute in general so it works for you."

"You think I'm cute?" Sean asked trying to keep the hopeful sound out of his voice.

She rocked on the heels of her feet, "Uh-huh."

"Oh," Sean turned beat red as he stuttered out, "You are really cute too."

Giggling, she stood on the tips of her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek, "Thanks."

If possible he turned even more red. Emmie chuckled as she turned away from him and started heading back up the beach, "How about we head back to the tree house and catch some shut eye, stud?"

Entering the tree house, they found Trevor and Hannah munching on some of the protein bars. A portion of each was on the table for the two teens who ate them hungrily without even a thanks.

"You should take the hammock," Sean scratched the back of his head as he eyed the comfortable hanging fabric. He had been lying on it before he had went to find Emmie and knew how nice it felt.

"No," Emmie shook her head forcibly. "It's yours."

"I think you should have it..."

The girl stepped closer to Sean and looked up at him carefully, "It was your dads hammock. I think you should sleep in it. It's not my place."

His eyes widened at her statement. That's when he noted how much he really wanted to lay there. To feel that his dad was there with him. Even if it was just something silly like a hammock... he felt a tiny bit closer to the man he wish he had met.

Smiling, she turned away from him and started to situate some leaves they had gathered on the floor. It was better than sleeping on the hard wood of the tree by itself...

Something was touching her. She swatted a hand out to smack it away, but it seemed to tickle her even more. Slowly, Emmie opened her gray eyes and before she knew it she was producing a very loud shriek.

She rolled onto her butt and started to back away from the bug-like creature by her head. It was crawling all over the floor looking for something. Apparently _her_.

"Someone kill it! Kill it!"

Her shouts stirred everyone awake. Trevor was the first to react and picked up some sort of club and smashed it onto the poor bugs head. It splattered it's guts all over the floor and Emmie gagged at the gooey substance.

"_Ewe_," Emmie dragged out with a strangled cry of disgust. "It was crawling all over me!"

"That would be a trilobite," Trevor poked the bug on the floor. "We should probably cook the insides. It is a good source of protein."

"You expect me to eat that?" she scoffed.

Trevor nodded, "If you want to live, yes."

"I'd rather die."

Hannah laughed, "You sounded like you were dying."

"It was going to eat me!" she shrieked. With a moan she ran her hand over her face. "I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, I need to use the bathroom, and I smell like crap with _no _toothbrush."

"I'm sorry princess," her mother chuckled with an amused expression. "How about you and I head down to the ocean and attempt to clean ourselves up a bit while Trevor here cooks this.. bug."

"I'm not eating that..." Emmie grumbled shooting Trevor a glare.

"Emmie is not a morning person," Hannah said in an apologetic tone. "Once she wakes up she will be back to her normal self."

The teen rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Can we go? I feel disgusting."

Sean watched as the two women exited the tree. He looked down at the dead squished bug still half asleep. He honestly had no idea what was going on at the moment he was so physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.

"You alright there kiddo?"

He looked at his uncle, "What?"

"When the girls get back we are going to clean ourselves up and start on that raft, alright?" Trevor informed with a small grin. Sean didn't even look like he understood anything that was happening.

"Yeah sure..."

As Hannah and Emmie returned Sean noted that both of them had cut their spandex pants into shorts. Emmie's significantly shorter than her mothers. A plate of trilobite was on the table for both of them.

Emmie glanced at Sean who had a grimace on his face as he slowly ate his own bug. She stared at the meal for a good minute debating chucking it at the back of Trevor's head for actually thinking she would eat this, or just eating it.

"Sweetie," Hannah said gently patting her daughters hand. "I know it sounds terrible, but you should eat it."

She gulped. Unhappily she stuck a small bit in her mouth and tried not to spit it out. When she finished swallowing the first bite the idea of chucking the seashell that held the bug meat became even more prominent.

"Did you eat any Trevor?" Emmie asked angrily.

He tried to smile at the irritable female, "Yes."

"Huh," she scoffed pushing the plate away from her. "I think I will take my chances with poisonous fruit. Or catch a fish."

Hannah bit back her laughter. This was the American bratty daughter she was used to. It was quite amusing that she was returning to her normal habits.

"I'd like to see you catch a fish," Sean muttered giving her a small glare. She was being quite annoying this morning.

"Don't worry!" standing up she gave them her chin. "I will!"

Sean watched her leave with raised brows, "I didn't think she would really go."

"She's a stubborn one," Hannah shook her head trying not to gag on the bug herself.

"I noticed..." Sean muttered. Although, last nights events came across his brain and he grinned to himself. The way she had leant up on the tips of her toes and kissed his rosy cheeks... the taste of trilobite was enough to replace his happiness with a scowl.

Emmie was found awhile later holding a fish in her hands. An extremely large fish. A grin was stretched across her face and she looked so proud Sean really wanted to roll his eyes, but discovered he was more amused by her cockiness.

She dropped it at Trevor's feet, who was tying some long grass together with some of Hannah's rope, "Fish!"

Trevor looked up at her, "I see."

"I'm hungry," she placed her hands on her hips staring at him sternly.

"Well," Trevor averted his gaze and started at the task at hand. "Cook it."

She scoffed, "I don't know how to cook a fish!"

"You just gut it-"

"Ewe!" she shook her head. "No way. That's a mans job."

Sean sniggered at the look of pure irritation crossed his uncle's features, "I'll do it for you..."

Emmie clapped, "Yay!"

Uselessly, at least in Trevor's eyes, Emmie sat on the beach munching on her fish. He sure hopped it wasn't poisonous because he didn't want to deal with a sick teenager on top of all this other stuff he had to deal with at the moment.

After she finished she became slightly more helpful. She helped gather long grass and tied them together. Sean smiled as she kept muttering quiet curses to herself and little "ouches" every time something poked her. It seemed to happen frequently too.

The temperatures were rising extremely quickly. After a few hours of working on the raft the heat had reached one hundred degrees. However, they had finished the base of the raft and were now working on all the other pieces that were needed.

The four were drenched in sweat from head to toe and their breaths becoming raspy from all their hard work. Trevor sat back on his feet and sighed, "Alright. I'm going to get a drink and take a rest. We still have over twenty hours to get this done."

Hannah wiped her brow, "Yeah, me too."

"I'm just going to finish this up," Emmie said as she tightened the rope around a stack of the thick grass. "I'll be to the three house in a bit."

"I'll help," offered Sean. He sat next to her and started to help tie the opposite end.

Trevor shrugged at Hannah and they both started back for the tree house. There was a short awkward silence where the two teenagers focused on their work.

"So..."

Emmie gave him a dimpled grin, "So..."

"Where do you live in the states exactly?" he asked after he thought about what he wanted to talk to her about. Honestly, he didn't care much about the conversation as long as she was saying something to him.

"My grandparents like to 'state bounce,' as I like to call it. But right now we are living in Kentucky. I don't like it there though."

"You should move to Canada," Sean looked at her with a grin.

"I thought you lived in New York?"

He frowned, "Mom wants to move to Canada."

"Canada is nice," she encouraged at his sour face. "I've been there a few times with my dad. We love it there."

"Really?"

She nodded her head for affect, "And you can have all the special brownies you want!"

"I don't want special brownies..." he scrunched his nose and she laughed at his expression. "Your dad travels right?"

"Yeah, he's a German explorer. Not a scientist like your uncle."

"Oh."

"He met my mom because he wanted to hike up the mountains. They were gone for a week I believe, just exploring together. That was when I was conceived," Emmie cocked her head to the side looking at Sean thoughtfully. Maybe she was just like her mom. Always falling for the adventurous boys. "She always tells me how handsome he was and how stupid she had been."

"Well, she had you so it wasn't a stupid decision," he looked at her with a grin.

"I guess," she sighed leaning back on the palms of her hands after they finished tying everything down.

"Your mother is as Icelandic mountain guide, your father a German explorer," Sean listed off. "And your grandparents are state bouncers in America."

"Not to mention my Gramps was a Volcanic scientist whom thought Journey to the Center of the Earth was real..." Emmie looked at her surroundings. "And he was right."

"I can't believe we are here right now," Sean let himself lay down so he starting up at the large gas combustion in the bright sky. "Just a few days ago I was complaining to my mom how I didn't want to see Trevor. I was really rude to him."

"Why?"

"I haven't seen him since I was seven..." he shrugged. "When my dad disappeared he was kind of like my father figure. Then he stopped showing up."

Emmie rolled onto her side so that she was somewhat hovering over him, "Maybe he is just really bad with kids."

"Maybe?" Sean laughed. "Definitely."

"Do you still resent him?"

"No..." he locked eyes with her. "I understand him more now. He just... missed his brother and didn't know how to be not miserable with his life."

"Trevor is a great guy. And cute."

Sean scowled, "Cute?"

"Yeah," Emmie giggled at the jealous expression. "You both look alike."

"You think my _old_ uncle is cute?"

"He's not old. He's mature, handsome, and muscular," she winked a gray eye.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, "Seriously?"

"I like older men."

There went Sean's theory. He swore she must have liked him because _he_ was cougar meat.

"Well, your mom is hot," Sean snipped.

Emmie bit her lip to hold back the laughter she felt bubbling in her chest, "I know."

"Well..." he looked frustrated as he tried to find something to say to her.

"How about we go get something to drink, you look flushed."

The younger boy rolled his eyes, "Fine."

Trudging back towards the tree house, Emmie had a cocky grin on her lips while Sean looked like he had just downed a gallon of sour milk.

Hannah looked at Sean questionably as he entered, "Are you alright Sean?"

"Peachy," Sean shot Emmie a glare.

Rolling her eyes she laughed, "He's just jealous."

"Am not!" he retorted.

"Don't listen to him, he is."

"What am I jealous of?"

"Me," she flipped her hair. "And other things."

He stomped over to the hammock and flopped upon it. Hannah gave her daughter a disappointed expression why Trevor just read that little journal not even paying attention to the argument going around him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that belongs to Journey to the Center of the Earth. Movie or book version.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

Emmie clapped her hands giddily, "We finished!"

"Not quite yet," Trevor muttered as he started to attach rope to a large blanket.

"Well," she placed her hands on her hips. "Almost."

Hannah stood on the raft waiting for Trevor's go. He nodded his head and they both began to attach the ropes to the poles sticking out from the bottom. A large gust of wind shot up and the blanket went flying in the air. They all shouted in happiness, but the raft started tugging towards the water.

"Get on the raft!" ordered Trevor as he hopped on.

Sean and Emmie climbed aboard and not a minute latter they were set off for the geysers. The water splashed around them in a harmonious way, almost like a dance.

"Ughhh..."

Shaking her head, Hannah patted her daughters back softly, "Don't worry. It will all be over soon."

There was a small chirrping and Sean looked up to see one of those lightening birds, as he liked to call them. It looked familar almost as if it had been fallowing them. His thoughts were broken as Emmie gagged loudly.

"I'm going to puke..."

"I didn't think you would get seasick," Trevor commented as he stared off in the distance. He swore he could see some flashes of lightening in that direction. "I mean, after all we've been through you are getting seasick."

Emmie responded by letting her vomit fall into the water below as she leaned over the side of the raft.

A part of Sean felt bad for her, but the other part felt like it was karma from her being mean to him earlier. After they had returned to the tree house he realized she was just trying to rile him up. She thought it was _funny_ to see him squirm.

The better side of him won and he crawled over beside Emmie and Hannah. He reached for the young girls back and started rubbing circles on it soothingly. Hannah nodded appreciatively and returned to Trevor's side to make sure the boat stayed in stable condition.

When she was finished vomiting she let her head rest on the floor of the raft. Sean crossed his legs and pulled her up so that her head rested on this thighs. It seemed like it would be more comfortable than the rough ground.

"Trevor..." Hannah whispered in that worried tone of hers.

Sean turned around to see her pointing in the distance. His brown eyes widened at the sight of the stormy clouds and lightening.

"I know," Trevor muttered. He picked up his thermostat and shook his head. "We can't slow down to let it pass. It's already one-hundred and nine degrees."

"Crap..." she looked towards her daughter lying in Sean's arms. "Then we better prepare ourselves for a storm."

"... storm?" Emmie sat up a bit and cried out when she saw the purple lightening. "I'm going to die! In water! I hate water..."

He wanted to laugh, but held it back as she flopped back onto his thighs defeated, "It's going to be okay."

She shook her head 'no.' He casually brought a hand through her hair to massage her scalp. His mother used to do that to him when he was sick or upset when he was younger and it always made him feel better. Emmie was both sick and upset; so he was sure it was the perfect cure.

"Hey Sean," Emmie peeked a signal gray eye up at him.

"Yep?"

"Can you promise me something?" He raised his eyebrows as he continued to stare at her. "When we get out of here... I want the shower first."

He laughed, "Fine, you can have the shower first."

The current began to pick up and Hannah scowled at Trevor. He was such a stubborn man sometimes. They were headed in the right direction. If they wanted to get their _alive_ they should have lowered the blanket.

Trevor saw the look she was giving him and was half-tempted to roll his eyes, "It's just a little storm."

"Little?" Hannah moved her eyes toward the big flashes of light that they were nearing. "That looks like a huge storm to me."

"Hey you guys," Sean leaned over the side of the raft. The girl had sat up and was now scooting away from the edge of the boat when she saw something swimming around the water. She _hated_ fish and large bodies of water. If she weren't catching one to eat in desperate measures there was no way she was going near them. "I think I see something in the water."

"It's probably just some plankton," waved off Trevor. His eyes were focused on the approaching storm. Fish were not the most important thing on his mind at the moment.

Emmie narrowed her eyes as something splashed in the water a few feet away, "I don't think it's plankton Trevor..."

"It looks a little big."

Sean was tugged on his butt by Emmie. She shook her head as he had been leaning his entire upper body over the dangerous waves below.

"Sean, we aren't at SeaWorld so why don't you back off a bit?" Trevor looked toward his nephew as he tried to re-lean over the side of the raft. Emmie yanked him back once more and gave him a disapproving glare.

"I think it's a fish."

"Sean, seriously if you lean over the side one more time I'm going to punch you in the face!" shouted Emmie as she hauled him by his dirty t-shirt once more.

At that moment a large fish shot out of the water. Emmie screamed louder than she had when falling down that volcanic tunnel. It flopped over the side of the raft after wobbling on the middle of the rolled up grass for a second.

"Oh my God!" Emmie scrambled onto her feet shakily. She started to spin in circles to check out her surrounds. "That was a freaking piranha!"

Sean looked frightened as more fish popped out of the depths of the sea, "They are everywhere!"

"Catch!" Trevor tossed a wooden stick towards Sean and he caught it swiftly. He was about to throw one for Emmie, but she looked so terrified that he actually handed one to her than Hannah. "Alright, batter up guys!"

One flew out of the water and Sean smacked it hard in the middle, "Gotchya!"

"I'm going to die!" the young girl cried as she jumped away from a fish that came toward her. She squealed as she swatted at it.

There was a distant jingle and Hannah looked around, "What's that noise? Do you hear that?"

"My phone!" Sean dug through his pocket and held up the device proudly. "I have service!"

"Tell them I'm dying!"

He ignored Emmie's pleas as he answered the cellular device, "Mom! Ugh... Uncle Trevor and I are fishing..."

There was another scream from Emmie, "Die! Die! Stop attacking me please! I wont eat anymore of you I promise!"

"Oh! He's really excited..."

Trevor looked at Hannah to see one of the sharp toothed fish lurching for her rear end. He grabbed it by it's fin and held it up, "Oh no you don't, pervert!"

"He just caught a big one," Sean held the phone away from his face. "Mom I really have to go I'll call you back la-"

As a fish leaped towards his face he moved as far as he could away, but it swiped his phone right out of his hand. He turned around and screamed as it disappeared into the ocean once more.

"Sean!"

He turned to Emmie who was pointing behind him. Rotating on his heel he saw a gigantic wave forming in the water. He moved out of the way in time just as a serpent type fish lifted his head to swallow one of the sharped tooth fish. She screamed and back away as far as possible from the fish as it knocked into the raft roughly.

Luckily for them the fish were now too distracted eating one another to care for the humans floating on the raft.

Trevor screamed as he grabbed for the rope holding up the blanket that was flapping high in the sky, "Take us that way! Hurry!"

Sean leapt over to the tiller and started to rotate it in the direction his uncle pointed. Emmie stood back as she watched her mother and Trevor release the line as slowly as possible for them to gain even more speed.

They started to clear away from the fish. It looked like everything was going great, until Hannah lost her grip on the line and it knocked her back. The rope had burned through the flesh of her skin and she cried out in pain as the blood stained her hands quickly.

When he heard her scream Trevor let his own line go. This caught Emmie's attention as the rope started to slip so far out they would lose it. She darted forward and grabbed onto the right side. Thankfully, Trevor too ran towards the rope and gripped the left side. However, the wind was too stronger and before they knew what was happening they were both being swept off their feet into the sky.

Crying out in fear she turned to see her mother screaming hers and Sean's names at the top of her lungs. Trevor had tried to reach out to grab them back, but all he was able to catch was air.

"Don't let go!" Trevor screamed. He fell to his knees in defeat as they became a mere spec in the sky.

"Hold on tight Emmie," Sean ordered as they still kept on soaring. "Just hold on. Don't let go."

"Trust me, I don't plan on it!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

There was a soft moan. Sean furrowed his brows. Why had there been a moan? Who was moaning? Why couldn't he seem to comprehend anything at the moment? He felt his eyes heavy as he forced them up with more effort than it should to open ones eyes.

One of the piranah's were lying beside him and he rolled away from him it petrified. Although, when he looked at it once again he realized it was dead.

He sighed as he pushed himself up on his palms. Looking down he noticed that there was sand beneath him. A beach?

"Sean..." his head snapped to his right. On the other side of the fish was Emmie tangled up in the blanket and rope on her stomach.

Crawling over to her he pushed the hair that had fallen in her face out of her eyes. She blinked up at him dazedly and he noticed how bloodshot the normally gray eyes appeared.

Inspecting her carefully he couldn't see any outstanding bodily harm other than a few cuts and bruises, "Are you okay?"

"I think so," Emmie groaned as she began to sit up. He placed a hand behind her back and helped her stay upright as she brought a quivering hand up to her head. Pulling her fingertips back she saw a few drops of blood.

"Ouch," he winced as he saw a deep cut on her forehead. "That doesn't look so good."

"It hurts..."

He tugged at the bottom of his maroon shirt until it ripped. He made sure he tore enough of the fabric so that it would wrap around her head. Standing up, he held out a hand which Emmie took. They both stumbled over to the ocean having trouble steadying themselves from their collision with the sandy ground.

Dipping the fabric into the water he dabbed at her forehead. She didn't even seem to notice the pain, "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not really. I can't feel it," she looked at him glossy eyed. "My head is throbbing though."

"Maybe you have a concusion or something."

She shrugged, "The water is pretty warm."

Sean re-stuck his hand in the water. He hadn't noticed being so consumed with cleaning her wound that the water was indeed significantly hotter. Almost unberable at that point.

"We should hurry Sean," she grabbed his hand as he still sat trying to clean her cut. He nodded his head and placed the fabric around her head and tied a not in the back.

"Hello!" Sean called out as the couple began to walk along the beach toward a cliffy area ahead. At this point he didn't know where he was. "Trevor! Hannah!"

Emmie almost felt asleep as she walked a few steps behind Sean. He kept screaming and screaming, which only made her headache worse. She pressed her fingers into her temple and massaged it hoping it would relieve some of the pain.

There was a chirp that made them both look up, "Look! It's one of those birds."

She nodded at Sean, "Do you think it's the same one from the raft?"

"Hey little guy," Sean cooed at the blue feathered creature. "You want to help us find our way out?"

The creature chirped as if it had said yes. Then it flew off between the cracks of the cliff that Sean hadn't noticed was there. He quickly followed and Emmie eyed the younger boy in front of her. She thought the heat was started to affect him in negative ways.

Sean frowned, "Hey, you are going too fast!"

It disappeared around the corner and Sean threw his hands up in defeat. He turned to look back at Emmie who seemed to be sleep walking. Her hair was a tangled mess and her eyes were even more bloodshot and half open.

When they rounded the corner Sean cried out happily. A stream of water was falling down the rocks. It probably wasn't clean and could contain harmful bacteria, but it wasn't salty and could replenish them.

He held out his hands and splashed his dirty face. Looking beside him he tugged Emmie over and placed her gently underneath the lightly dripping water. She opened her mouth and gratefully let the warm liquid fall between her chapped lips.

"Thanks," Sean grinned up at the bird and it sang dantily to him.

Emmie didn't think she was as quenced as she liked to be, but when she knew she would be able to carry on she moved over to let Sean get some more. She smiled as the bird continued to fly around their heads in gleeful circles. Either she was going crazy too... or that bird really was helping them out.

Digging through his pocket Sean pulled out the compas Trevor had given him. His uncle had said it was his father's; he had found it in the tree house. The red arrow pointed South.

"This is the right path to the gysers," Sean looked beside him. Thankfully Emmie looked better after that little bit of water. Color began to return to her cheeks and the bloodshot eyes reduced a bit.

She leaned over his shoulder and read the inscription, "_So you can find your way home_..."

"Yeah," Sean licked his lips as their eyes met. Her eyelashes fluttered while her lips parted letting out a small breath. He could almost feel the magnetic force pulling them together.

However, the bird swooped down between them giving a warning chirp. Sean had almost forgetten they were running on a time limit.

He coughed as Emmie moved away from him slightly. A moments hesitation passed before they started to follow the bird once more. It felt like hours before until something, other than their muscles being strained from all their walking, happened.

There was an odd shift in the air that made Sean slow his pace as they entered a large cave of sorts. He squinted in the distance to see a large opening at the other end straight across from them. Emmie began to walk slowly ahead of him glancing at the walls of the cave intrigued.

Tripping over one of the rocks, Sean fell hard onto his chest. Emmy spun around and was about to ask him if he was alright when she noticed the switchblade that had once been in his picket was floating in the air around him.

"Magnetic..." the boy muttered shocked as he stared at the floating object. "This is a magnetic field."

Cocking her head to the side, "Magnetic field?"

"Yeah," Sean stood and started hurrying towards her. "We should move faster. It's getting really hot."

Both of their paces picked up. Emmie gasped as she felt her foot slip through one of the rocks and they seperated underneath her. She hadn't even realized she screamed until she was hanging on the edge of the rock for her life.

Sean's eyes widened as he reached out for her. As he was pulling her up that's when he noticed the rocks were magnetic. There was nothing underneath the rocks, they were just drifting through the air.

Emmie latched herself to Sean's chest breathing heavily, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die."

"I've got you," Sean ran a hand down her back soothingly. He placed his head atop her messy hair and she closed her eyes tightly. "I promise I'm never going to let you go."

After she composed herself they began to tip toe over the rocks. Things got a bit more difficult as they seperated the father they got. Emmie stiffled a few screams as Sean, ahead of her, almost slid off a few times. His body was larger than hers so it was hard for him to balance on the rocks.

Then Sean jumped and knocked the rock between them too far out of jumping distance. He compressed a shout as the rock started to tip backwards. He gripped the sides praying he didn't fall off, "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Sean!" Emmie tried to swing her hands out to move the rock. Surprsingly it started to work as if the air was water and she was rowing a boat with her hands. "Hang on! I'm coming!"

Relief came over him as the rock started going back to it's original position with him on top. But a scream came from his lips as it tipped back around.

Emmie sighed when the rock stopped short to the path on the other side. He scrambled off the magnetic one onto solid ground where the bird was perched waiting for them.

He frowned as the bird looked at him somewhat questionably, "Oh yeah! You try doing that without wings."

When Emmie was in reaching distance Sean held out a hand and she hopped off the rock. He caught her around the waist and she grinned up at him. The bird chirped and they started their journey through the cave.

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><p>Sorry for the late update... I've been going through a terrible breakup and I have been so emotionally drained for the past month that I didn't even have the energy to post anything. I'm back. I'm here. And I'm stronger than I've ever been (or at least trying to be). Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm glad I've changed some of your minds on my story :-)<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"You kind of look like a pirate with that wrapped around your head."

Emmie rolled her eyes at the boy walking alongside her through the deserted area, "Arg."

"You are pretty awesome though..." Sean pursed his lips embarrased as Emmie stared up at him. "You've got that whole bad girl thing going on."

"Oh really?" she laughed. Reaching out her hand she let it brush against his own. He gazed at her wonderingly as she laced her fingers through his own with a dimpled smile on her pink lips.

She looked up at him scrunching her nose in the process, "You are pretty awesome too."

The sweet moment was ruined when Emmie had to realse his hand as her foot got caught under something hard. She fell forward, hard, down a small hill. Sean gasped and carefully ran down the slump and helped her onto her feet.

"What was that?" glancing back her eyes bugged out. There were bones. Large bones. Bones fifty times the size of her entire body. _Dinosaur_ bones.

"Man, I really wish I read that book..."

There was a thunderous sound in the distance. Emmie latched her fingers around Sean's bicep with paniced eyes. _She_ had read the book.

"We need to hide," she rushed. They both lunged over to a tall mass of rock and pressed their bodies tight against it. His hand found hers once more finding that he felt reassured everytime the action was commensed.

The ground began to shake softly and gradually became harder as something drew near. Emmie clenched her eyes shut tightly wishing she was anywhere but there at the moment.

And then a sound of something wet hit the floor. Both Sean and her gazed down at their feet to see a goopey liquid splat on the sandy floors. Staring upward Sean's jaw tightened at the frightening creature growling above them hungrily.

Another drop of saliva escaped the tyranasuraus mouth landing direction on Sean's face. Emmie would have gagged at the disgusting sight if she hadn't been forced to run for her life as the dinosaur opened it's mouth.

Sean tugged on her hand and started to run in the opposite direction. Their feet hit the floor hard as they ran as quickly as they could. Being already exhausted and extremely dehydrated wasn't helping their case at all. When Emmie felt like she were about to give up from exhaustion and allow the creature to devour her greedily Sean shoved her into a hole in a crevice.

However, it ended up not being the greatest idea as they were trapped between the beast knocking down the matted sand and a wall behind them. Sean and Emmie both screamed as the tyranasaurous made headway and actually got deeper into their hiding space.

Sean turned his head as something pounded on the wall from the other side. A crack started to form and he thought maybe another evil creature would pop out from the other side. But when he saw a familar fist break the barrior he almost cried.

When the hole was big enough he roughly shoved Emmie through the space and followed her quickly just as the monster made it more than half-way through. Trevor brought his nephew into a bone crushing hug. The idea of losing his brother's son was worse than actually losing his brother, if that were possible.

"I am so glad to see you," admitted Trevor.

Sean nodded his head, "Me too."

"We should go," Emmie interrupted as she heard the tyrannasaurs bang against the already broken into wall. "Fast."

Not even a moment after they started sprinting the large creature was on their tale. Emmie screamed as it snapped at her back touching a strand of her hair. Trevor started branching away from them and the dinosaur seemed to beging to tag after him.

"What are you doing?" Sean shouted as he saw that the dinosaur was no longer after Emmie or him, but his uncle.

"The geyser is that way!" he pointed in the opposite direction. "Over there is muscovite. The same type of rock we fell through in the volcanic tunnel."

He frowned, "It wont hold you!"

"It wont hold him either!"

"Trevor, no!" Emmie started in the older man's direction. Sean did not seem to disagree as he too started moving towards his uncle.

Trevor looked back to see the tyrannasaous snap his sharp teeth at him. He managed to speed up just in time for it to miss him by an inch. There was the sound of light cracking, but the rock seemed to be holding out.

"It's not breaking Trevor!" Sean informed as he saw the dinosaur draw closer to his uncle.

Just as the dinosaur opened his jaw and Trevor was in reach there was a horrendously loud boom. The floor gave in under the dinosaurs feet and soon the entire ground around them was shattering.

Sean cried out loudly as he saw his uncle disappear. They both picked up their pace and hanging on the edge was none other than Trevor with a sour expression.

"I hate field work!" he grumbled while Sean pulled him up.

Emmie jumped on the man, which surprised Trevor, sean and herself, and eloped him and a great hug, "Don't ever do that again."

"I don't plan on it," Trevor patted her back awkwardly. When she backed up she grabbed onto Sean's hand and smiled up at him. "The geyser is straight that way. If we hurry we should be able to make it."

"... well this is just great," Emmie crossed her arms over her chest.

Sean sighed exhaustedly, "The water is too hot."

"What we really need is a boat," Trevor said.

"Yeah, how do you suppose we get one of those?"

Trevor shot Emmie a glare for her attitude, but before he could make a comment the sound of splashing in water could be heard. As if the heavens heard their silent prayers Hannah came around a corner paddling an upsidedown tyrasauarous rex head.

Hannah smirked at the three's shocked expressions, "Who had dibs again?"

Trevor and Sean pointed at their chests.

"_Mom_!"

Hannah brought her daughter into a bone clenching hug when she climbed inside the dinosaur head. The older man shot Hannah a shy smile. He hadn't understood why she had kissed him before he left to go find Sean and Emmie, but he knew as soon as they were out of there alive that would be the first thing he repayed.

After Hannah had been paddling for a few moments she noticed the water begin to sink. She searched around her to see that it was begining to evaporate from the steam, "We are losing water quickly."

A scream erupted is the water disappeared making the skull fall down. Thankfully, it was caught between the wall and couldn't budge much more than few meters.

Sean peered over the edge, "What's that light down there?"

"That's lava-"

"Lava!" Emmie shrieked leaning over the edge. She coughed as some of the fumes made their way up the tube. "I'm so going to die right now."

"What do we do?" Hannah directed this towards Trevor.

"There's nothing we really can do... we ran out of water and that's the only way."

"What about the geyser. What happened to it?"

Trevor shook his head at Sean's question, "No. We are too late for the geyser. WE missed it."

"How?" Emmie scanned the walls. "It looks like the walls are still wet."

Hannah touched the stone, "It is wet."

"And cold," Sean added.

"That's impossible," Trevor frowned. "It's over one hundred and thirty degrees in here."

"Behind you!"

Trevor turned and felt the wall behind him. He pressed his hands against the surface and fold the cold slippery texture, "There has to be some air pocket holding the water behind the walls."

"Trevor..." Sean looked over the edge. "The lava is getting closer."

The older man brought his fingers to his nostrils and sniffed, "Hey, that's magnesium."

A jolt pushed the skull down a few inches. Hannah gripped her fist against the walls to steady herself, "We are slipping!"

"Oh God," Emmie reached out for Sean's hand. "We are going to die."

"Now who's the baby?" he muttered under his breath, but Emmie didn't seem to hear him or care. She just stared wide eyed at Trevor who looked to be deep in thought.

He turned to Hannah and stretched his arm out, "How many flares do we have left?"

"Three," she slung her backpack off her shoulder. Handing him the flares she eyed him as he started pushing himself out of the skull and letting his entire torso swing over the edge. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to light the magnesium," he looked her in the eye and winked. "On purpose this time."

They all watched as he lit the flare and held it against the wall. He cursed as it slipped from his fingers and fell down into the lava with a boom, "It's too wet!"

"That's what she said..." Hannah slapped her daughter in the arm. She looked at Trevor as he reached out for another one.

"I have to go further down. Hold my legs!" Sean gripped his uncle's legs as Trevor completely left the skull. He swung his arm out, but the flare refused to ignite the magnesium. The light went out and he grunted as sweat dripped down his temples.

Sean tugged him back into the skull. Hannah held out the last one and Trevor looked at her sternly, "You are going to have to tie my legs. It's the only way I can get down far enough."

Emmie peeked down and shivered, "It's so close now! I don't want to be burned to a crisp."

Trevor was lowered over the edge and lit the flare. Pressing it against the wall he shook his head. He didn't understand why it wasn't working. But then he looked across at the other side of the wall and noticed that there appeared to be magnesium there as well.

"I'm going to have to throw it to the other side!" he screamed. He didn't wait for a reply as he counted softly to himself and tossed it on three.

Every one was silent as a spark erupted. However, a wave of sadness came over them as it disappeared a second later.

"Ahhh!" Emmie shook a pointed finger at the wall. "Look!"

"It's lit, it's lit!" screamed Sean.

"Trevor," Hannah excitedly followed suit. "It's lit!"

"Pull me up!" he looked down at the lava oozing up towards him. "Pull me up!"

"Pull, pull, pull!" Hannah chanted. Emmie, Sean and herself all grabbed the rope and tugged with all their strength until Trevor fell over the edge into the skull.

He shoved them all to the ground quickly, "Get down, it's going to blow!"

As if on que, the wall bursted open and water poured out. When it met the lava it exploded into a gust of steamy air. The four screamed as it pushed them upward.

"Is that sky?"

All their eyes blinked up at the blue up ahead through the opening. There screams continued as they cascaded up and burst out of the hole.

"Hang on!" Trevor shouted.

"Trust me, I'm hanging on," Hannah sarcastically bit back.

The skull touched the ground of the mountain and they were zipping through fields of fruit and vegetables at an alarming speed. But the more dense the plants became the slower the skull was on it's way down.

They were soon jolted to a stop by a loud boom as they crashed into a wall. Emmie grunted as she looked to her right to see that the rest of them were shaken up, but alive.

"Le mie piante! Il mio tutore bella! Stolti!"

There was an Italian farmer swinging his hands around wildly motioning up the mountains. His frantic shouts were ignored as the four tried to come out of there shock.

When they were all standing up, Trevor turned towards the mountain," Hey Sean. If your mom asks I took you to Italy?"

"Italy?"

Emmie looked behind her with wide eyes, "How the heck did we end up in Italy?"

"La mia vita è rovinata ... come faccio a sostenere me e la mia famiglia?" the Italian farmer looked ready to cry as he watched them all with wide terriified eyes.

Sean dug into his backpack and pulled out one of the diamonds he had achieved on his journey. Going over to the man he held it out. In the worst Italian accent ever he gestured for the man to take it, "You take this! We are sorry."

"Wow Sean..." Emmie mummbled mockingly at his accent. She climbed over the edge and stood beside him as the man took hold of the diamond transfixed by it's beauty.

"Sean!"

Trevor held up the bag of jewels looking at his nephew skeptically, "Sean."

"What?" he shrugged his shoulders. "I just took a few geological samples."

"A few?"

"A few pounds of samples, but what do you expect? I'm a scientist's son."

The Italian man hugged the diamond, "You slide again?"

Emmie frowned, "No thank you."

"Take whatever you want!" he urged with a wide grin.

Sean laughed as Emmie gave him an annoyed look. Glancing over her shoulders her eyes widened. Sean followed her gaze and it landed upon his uncle and Hannah who were locked in a passionate kiss.

"Well," she said with a smirk. "I guess Trevor has dibs. Not you."

"I have dibs on the mountain guide," Sean objected slyly.

Emmie raised her eyebrows, "Oh really? Looks like she's kissing your uncle."

"No."

He bit his lip as he stepped towards Emmie. Her gray eyes stared up at him as he pressed a hand against her neck and drew her head towards him. Their lips met briefly and Sean moved back with a cherry blush on his cheeks, "It looks like she's kissing me."

Emmie grinned, "I'm not a mountain guide, stupid."

"Don't be so literal," Sean rolled his eyes.

She looked at her mom who was dazedly smiling at Trevor, "So... it looks like we are going to be cousins?"

Sean snorted, "Gross."

"You think it's gross kissing your cousin?"

"No. Well I mean yes," he furrowed his brows. "I don't mind kissing you because you are not like my blood cousin. If you were by birth then yes I would think it's gross. I just think it's gross that Hannah is kissing Trevor because why would anyone want to kiss-"

He was caught off by Emmie stepping on her toes and kissing him softly on the mouth. He closed his eyes and fell into her kiss.

"Hey!" Trevor called out. "That's enough you two! We need to get home."

"Home?" asked Sean dejectedly.

Emmie took hold of his hand amusedly, "Of course silly. Thought we were going to live on the mountains forever?"

Sean sighed, "I don't want to go to Canada."

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><p>ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT! o_O<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER /3

* * *

><p><strong>Last Chapter<strong>

The front door opened letting the warm Boston air breaze though. A smile twitched onto the seventeen-year-olds pink lips as she sat on the small comofrotable couch. She stretched out her arms being tense from sitting in the same position for so long.

She sprinted around the corner with a grin and was met with an even brighter smile. Wrapping her arms around the younger boy she pulled him into a hug. It had been too long since they had seen one another last.

"Sean!"

Hannah appeared beside Trevor with gleeful smiles. Her mother broke them apart and hugged Sean bear-like, "Oh Sean! It's so nice to see you. It's been months."

"Yeah-" Trevor messed up Sean's already messy brown hair with his hand. "I didn't know you were coming."

"I told Emmie," he shot his girlfriend a look and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I thought telling you was too much effort," she explained when her mother shot her a look. This resulted in a scoff from the older woman. "Plus, Sean and I have buisness to attend to!"

"Oh do you now?" Hannah eyed the too warily.

"Uh-huh!"

Trevor saw the wheels turning in Hannah's head, "What kind of buisness?"

Emmie bit her lip as she held out her copy of Atlantis, "Don't worry Mom. What did you think I was talking about?"

Hannah and Trevor shared a laugh causing Sean to blush awkwardly. He moved past them and carried his bags up to the spare room where he normally slept when he stayed over. Hannah had made Trevor clean it out after she saw how disasterous his house was.

The sound of the door shutting made him spin around to see Emmie leaning agaisnt it with a dazzling grin. She skipped over to him and pushed him so that he was sitting on the bed. He smiled as she plopped down beside him and wrapped her arms around his torso bringing them into a blissful hug.

"I missed you."

He kissed the top of her head, "Me too."

"I can't believe I missed your birthday," she pouted up at him. "And to think, you are almost the same age as me now!"

"In a few months I'm going to be jailbait though," he wiggled his brows.

Emmie snorted, "You aren't jailbait. We are like a year and a half apart."

"I can't wait to tell everyone I have an eighteen-year-old girlfriend."

She rolled her gray eyes at his immaturity, "I bet you can't."

Spontaneously, he stole a kiss from her lips. She smiled against his own happy to finally be able to be with him. They had been seperated for nearly three months. It was terrible.

All the long distance phones calls... emails... Facebook chats... even Skype. Nothing compared to being able to press her lips against his.

When they broke apart she walked over to her closet slowly. She glanced back at Sean with a devious smirk, "I got you a little something for your birthday!"

"Oh?" he bit his lip as she bent over to dig through something in the depths of her closet. The action couldn't help be acknowledged by caramel eyes appreciatively.

She held whatever it was behind her back as she made her way back over to him, "The only way to get your present is if you pass a test."

"What kind of test?"

Placing a finger under her chin she looked thoughtfully down at Sean, "Well... you have to show me how much you care about me."

"Show you?" Sean frowned as she nodded her head happily at him. How was he supposed to show her that he cared? He kissed her, flew all the way out here just to see her, and gave her hugs...

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a kiss. It first started out normal as usual. Just a little peck on the lips that ended up getting a bit of tongue action. But when she went to pull back he cupped her cheeks between his large hands and pressed his mouth harder against hers.

Emmie breathed heavily as she broke back to get air. She looked down at Sean as he smiled up at her softly.

"I think I know how to prove it..."

She raised her eyebrows, "Oh?"

Sean kissed her gently, "I love you."

A blush fought her cheeks as she gaped at Sean. Had he said that to her before he gave her such a passionate kiss she would have laughed at him.

She shoved the present into his hands not sure what else to do. He broke eye contact as he looked down at the leather bound journal that rested in his lap. He twisted it in his palms seemingly transfixed by the object.

After a moments silence Emmie exhaled loudly. Her palms were sweating and her stomach was tied in nots, "I love you too, Sean."

His eyes had tears in them as he blinked up at her, "Thank you."

"I bought if for you so you could, you know, write stuff down like your dad," Emmie scooted closer to him on the bed. She rested her head against his shoulder causing her long waes to cascade against his arm. "So that one day when you have a kid they can read all of your adventures."

Their lips melted into one anothers once more. Sean didn't know if they would end up together in the end, but there was one thing he did know. He loved Emmie and that was enough for him. And he couldn't wait to go on more adventures with her.

The end.


End file.
